


Hero

by melancholymango



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Lance (Voltron), M/M, Marriage Proposal, Parades, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, keith is over here like 'u go kick his ass baby!!', lance is ANGERRR, lance sees iverson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-12 01:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11727048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melancholymango/pseuds/melancholymango
Summary: After over ten years of being at war, lost in space far away from home, the paladins have finally returned back to Earth. They're greeted as heroes, a parade and a banquet thrown in their honor. Keith doesn't feel like a hero, but he figures Lance deserves to be treated like one, so he suffers through it.Lance does feel like a hero, until he sees the familiar face of Iverson himself plastered in front of the cameras and trying to leech the spotlight. Then he just feels angry, on behalf of all his friends that'd been torn down by this man, and on behalf of the fresh-faced cadet he'd been when this teacher had taken advantage of his every insecurity.





	Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Much like all of my klance fics that are named after generic song titles, you're probably wondering which song titled "Hero" this is named after. I'll have you know that it's the song "Hero" from the disney channel original movie "Starstruck" starring the love of my life Sterling Knight aka Chad Dylan Cooper. Thank-you, goodnight.
> 
> Oh, also, this is dedicated to Kat because she requested it to fuel her burning hatred of Iverson and who am I to say no to that?

Keith wasn’t sure how many times he could handle being called a hero in one day, but he was definitely toeing the limit right about now. Everyone had warned him going into this that it might be a little bit unsettling, being treated like a celebrity rather than a person. He’d experienced it enough times on his journeys through space, aliens bowing to him like he was some kind of god, he’d figured that it wouldn’t be quite so bad.

Except it was so much worse than ever before because he _ recognized _ these people. They were cadets he’d gone to school with, people from his hometown, familiar faces that he couldn’t put a name to but knew by default that they never would have wanted anything to do with him right now if it weren’t for his accomplishments. They didn’t care about him, they only cared about what he’d done for them.

They looked right through him as they hollered and cheered, only really registering what they were looking at beyond the hype when they ended up in front of a news camera. Then they cared so much it was off-putting, eagerly rambling about their experiences and their thoughts on the whole matter like they had any right to. They didn’t, they didn’t even know the beginning of what Keith and his team had been through these past ten years. 

He didn’t  _ feel _ like a hero, he felt tired. He’d witnessed things that no person should ever have to see, done things that he could still feel crawling across his skin whenever he laid down at night. He’d hurt strangers, innocent people, the ones he loved, even himself. He’d inflicted so many scars in his lifetime, sometimes it took hours of Lance holding him and challenging his every self-deprecating comment for him to start to feel like he was good for anything that  _ wasn’t _ inflicting hurt on the universe.

Sure, they’d restored peace to the galaxy and saved countless lives, but not without the casualties. What was peace even worth when it was won with so much irreversible violence? Was it even something worth being proud of?

He looked up suddenly, trying to pull himself from his own dark thoughts. Today wasn’t about him, if it was about him then they wouldn’t be here, they’d be curled up at home and saturating in the fact that they were finally free to do what they wanted to. No, today was for the others, the ones that needed this attention and praise to keep from falling down the same spiral Keith had. They needed to believe they were heroes or they’d be left feeling like the villain, Keith knew this all too well.

Instinctively almost, his eyes found Lance amongst all the movement and screaming. The blue paladin was settled at the front of the float they were riding on, hands high up in the air and a dazzling smile spread across his face. He seemed so in his element, like he was finally receiving the reassurance he’d been begging for since the moment he’d been thrown into the war face-first. He wasn’t like Keith, didn’t revert into himself to form his own opinions. He needed to hear what others thought, needed their approval to feel like he’d accomplished something worthy of being proud of.

Keith grit his teeth, leaning further back in his seat and trying to make himself even smaller, grounding himself by focusing solely on the sight of Lance jumping around and waving to the parade-goers that lined the street. At least _ he  _ seemed happy. That had to be enough.

The parade didn’t actually last all that long, merely a short trip from the city square to the city hall where they were scheduled to meet many world leaders to discuss all that had happened while they were gone and what that meant for mankind. Keith wasn’t exactly looking forward to that either, but Allura and Shiro had already assured them that they would handle the diplomatics of it all. They were free to go the moment the parade ended, Keith couldn’t wait a moment longer to grab Lance and haul him into the nearest quiet room, so he was counting on that.

As they stepped down off of the float, Keith jogged to catch up to Lance. Lance jumped slightly, relaxing only when he turned and realized who was touching him. He melted into the touch then, leaning into Keith’s side and ignoring the cameras lining the crowds as they took photos of them, like animals in a zoo exhibit. 

Keith felt defensive and protective, uncertain why anyone here would think that they had any place in his relationship with Lance. It was theirs, theirs to share and no one else’s. It was one of the few things that had come from this terrible experience that was without a doubt a positive thing. It was the only thing that kept him grounded, made it all even the slightest bit okay. Lance was the promise of a future, the reassurance that he had a present worth being present for. 

His life had been a turbulent whirlwind for as long as he could remember, but Lance was the first consistency in it all that kept every single promise he made. Even if it meant crawling back to Keith bloodied and bruised, on the verge of death more than once, Lance had fought through it all time and time again to make sure that he came _ home _ . 

Keith had a  _ home _ , for the first time in his life, even if it was less four walls and a roof over his head and more the calming waves of Lance’s deep blue eyes. He would fight for it until his dying breath, make sure he came back each time he was forced to stray. Lance deserved that much.

They entered the city hall in a row of eight, the eldest of the group leading the way. Allura, Coran, Shiro, and Matt all led the way inside and greeted the rows of important figures lining their path. Hunk and Pidge followed shortly after, simply nodding in the direction of anyone they recognized. Then came Keith and Lance, so utterly invested in each other that they didn’t really take notice of the rest of the room.

God, Keith couldn’t wait to sneak off at the first opportunity they got and show Lance that the seven minutes of fame they had now would always pale in comparison to the lifetime of love they’d find in each other.

That was right about when it all started to go to shit. Lance’s eyes flickered away from his for just a fraction of a second, but that was all it took for them to notice a familiar face in the crowd and start drifting back to it. Lance’s feet seemed to stop working then, his entire body coming to a halt as he got completely lost in staring straight ahead. It was as if he’d seen a ghost. Keith placed a hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles as he tried to figure out what Lance was looking at.

He scanned the crowd for any sign of a visible threat and thankfully came up short, though only relaxing slightly when he knew that something was still bothering his boyfriend all the same. It took him a while of searching, long enough that Pidge and Hunk stopped and circled back to them in concern, but then Keith spotted the source of Lance’s unease. There, standing on their side of the red rope as if he belonged there for all to see, Iverson was stood answering questions a reporter was asking of him.

Keith watched on in horror as Lance’s confidence crumpled, the smile he’d been sporting since waking up today vanishing without a trace. The hurt that flashed through those blue eyes, the insecurity and the self loathing that Lance hadn’t allowed himself to get caught up in for months now. It’d taken years of constant reassurance for Lance to stop looking at himself as a problem that needed solving, as a hinderance in the way of everyone else’s success. And that man standing in front of them was to blame for so much of it that it physically hurt to think about.

Keith could recall all the nights he’d spent holding Lance close, while the other boy rambled on about his fears and his dreams, eventually always circling back to the horrible things Iverson had said to him or about him. He was a shitty person, Keith had realized that way before he ended up booted out of the Garrison, but his words had never gotten under his skin quite the way they’d picked Lance apart from the inside out. Lance cared so much about what other people thought of him, strived to meet their expectations and earn their praise, and Iverson had taken advantage of that by relentlessly tearing him down.

Keith was pissed. There was no way in hell he’d let this sorry excuse for a man, for a  _ teacher  _ of all things, ruin Lance’s big day. Lance was kept away from his loving family and forced to fight in a war he’d never signed up for for the last ten years, Iverson was the last person that deserved any sort of attention right now. All he’d ever done was stand in their way and tried to keep them from growing.

Though Keith had gone through every precaution to make sure his composure wouldn’t crack and he wouldn’t give himself away, he could practically feel it when his eyes flashed yellow. His Galra instincts were both angry and vicious when the moment called for it, but more than anything they gave him a strong sense of loyalty and protectiveness. If there was anyone in their godforsaken universe that he wanted to protect, it was Lance.

Shiro knew this, knew that Keith would snap like a frayed wire the moment someone put pressure on that particular weak spot of his. That was exactly why an unrealistically strong, cold hand clamped down on Keith’s shoulder before he could react and make any decisions he’d regret. Despite knowing that it was for the best, Keith still grit his teeth and attempted to shrug off Shiro’s grip, trying to fight his way forward. He didn’t even care if the reporters and the crowd started to take notice of the struggle, he  _ needed _ to make this right, needed to hurt Iverson as much as Lance had been hurt.

Shiro’s grip was vice-like though, giving Keith no hope of escaping. He slumped in defeat finally, hanging his head between his shoulders as he caught his breath. He blinked rapidly, trying to force himself to calm down before things got out of hand. He looked up finally, expression pained as he watched Lance process the fact Iverson was here being celebrated like a hero the same way he was.

“Lance, let’s keep moving, there are people waiting for us in the-” Shiro cut himself off, going utterly silent as Lance started to move. He stepped forward hesitantly at first, each step picking up speed and certainty as he marched straight up to Iverson. His hands were balled into fists at his sides, lips set in a tight unforgiving line.

Keith furrowed his eyebrows together, looking to the other paladins for any insight on what the hell Lance was doing. They all seemed equally as shocked, gaping along with the rest of the crowds as Lance reached the elderly man’s side and loudly cleared his throat. Iverson reluctantly turned away from the cameras in front of him, eyes widening when he saw who was asking for his attention.

“Lance, I didn’t expect to have a chance to talk with you.” Iverson greeted, though the smile he wore didn’t come anywhere near to his eyes. He seemed disinterested already, bored and indifferent in the plainest way, and Lance hadn’t even spoken a word yet. Keith resisted the urge to growl, his blood boiling beneath his skin.

“Today isn’t about you.” Lance stated firmly, straightening up and squaring his shoulders. Iverson scoffed, raking his eyes over the muscles Lance had formed since they’d last met. Then, his gaze lingered particularly long and the long scar stretched across Lance’s neck, where an enemy had failed to cut just deep enough to slit his throat for good. 

“ _ What _ ?” Iverson asked, his voice dropping a threatening amount lower. It was a challenge, a test, to see if Lance would dare to repeat himself now that he’d been called out on it. Lance from his Garrison days would have backed down in an instant, even now the others seemed to relax like they figured Lance would rethink what he was doing, but Keith held his breath hopefully. He _ wanted _ this for Lance, wanted him to stop putting others first for once in his fucking life. It was about time he acknowledged his emotions as valid, stopped trying to shove them down and disregard them.

Lance glanced down at his feet, taking a staggering breath before bouncing back twice as harsh. He shoved Iverson back a step, wringing his hands through the older man’s collar and pulling it taut around his throat. He leaned closer, sneering and getting all up in the teacher’s face.

“You told me the only reason I made it into your class was because the best pilot in our grade flunked out on a disciplinary issue. You threatened me constantly with the idea that I was following in his footsteps, that if I wasn’t careful I’d end up just like _ Keith  _ and I didn’t even have the skills to excuse my behavior. You said that he was lost potential, but I was just a lost cause.” Lance spat, positively shaking with anger. His upper lip was quivering, cheeks flushed an intimidating red and eyes narrowed into the coldest steely glare imaginable. His expression faltered unexpectedly though, realization flickering across his features as he loosened his grip. 

Lance looked over his shoulder, making eye contact with Keith and shuddering as he inhaled. He turned back to Iverson, blinking away angry tears. “Keith has more value in his big toe than you have in your entire body. He offers more to this universe than you could ever  _ dream _ of understanding. Following in his footsteps led me to places you’re going to  _ die _ being too scared to explore. You’re a heartless, cowardly excuse for a teacher. Keith is a  _ hero _ .”

Keith stumbled backward a step, eyes wide as he stared at Lance, radiating fierceness and confidence in his words. Keith was tired of being called a hero, of being looked at through the rose-colored forgiving glasses of strangers who only saw him as a finished product rather than a work in progress. But here Lance was, the man that had been with him through it all, had seen him at his worst and knew every terrible thing he’d done. And he still believed in Keith, still saw him as something invaluable… a  _ hero _ .

“Lance.” Shiro called, using a warning tone. Lance ignored him, tilting his head back and looking down on Iverson, who had started to look much smaller throughout the duration of the conversation.

“If you think for a fucking second that you deserve a spotlight on you, that you deserve an ounce of the credit for who I’ve become and what I’ve done, you’re delusional.” Lance growled, jabbing a finger into the man’s chest. “The only thing you  _ ever _ taught me was that there are always gonna be people so dissatisfied with their own accomplishments that they’ll try to piss on or steal yours.”

Keith couldn’t rightfully wipe the smile from his face, simply stood there gaping at his boyfriend in awe, seeing him in an entirely new light. He hardly even registered it when Shiro finally let him go, rushing over to grab Lance’s shoulder instead, looking apologetically around the room.

“Lance, come on, we have to keep moving a-” Lance didn’t fight Shiro’s grip on him, but his gaze never once strayed from Iverson’s wide eyes. When Shiro managed to drag Lance back a few steps, Lance seemed to grow frustrated with the lack of reaction.

“Leave!” He shouted, kicking his feet out as Shiro all but picked him up off the ground, looking a strange mix of embarrassed and proud of the blue paladin. Lance was promptly placed down at Keith’s side, and he immediately attempted to rush back over to Iverson before Keith’s hand shot out to grab his. 

Lance paused, looking up at Keith and slowly relaxing into the touch. He closed his eyes, drawing a deep breath. When he spoke next, his voice was calm and cold, detached in a chilling way in contrast to the emotions that had been present seconds before. “Go home to your empty house, lie in your empty bed, and eat your empty heart out, Iverson.”

They continued down the red carpet laid out for them, ignoring the hushed voices circling around them and whispering judgmental assumptions. While the others turned down to head toward the dining hall, Keith hurriedly asked permission and led Lance out onto one of the many balconies of the building instead. Luckily, this didn’t seem to be where the majority of the crowds had gathered, meaning they were actually alone.

Lance still looked a little shaken, hair a mess and eyes wide with shock, breaths deep as he panted to calm himself down. Keith stepped closer, cupping his hands on either side of Lance’s face, running his thumbs along tan cheekbones gently. He made soothing noises under his breath, leaning closer to rest their foreheads together. Lance finally looked up, as if just now starting to look back  _ at  _ him rather than  _ through _ him.

“Hey, you okay?” Keith asked, kissing him lightly. Lance melted into the embrace, chasing after it as Keith started to pull away. Keith was easily convinced, giving in and beginning to kiss Lance with a vigor now that he knew the other man was okay with it. Lance brought his hands up and wove his fingers into Keith’s hair, gasping against his mouth as they stumbled backward to lean against the brick wall. 

“Are you kidding?” Lance panted, pulling away and chuckling. He shook his head, swiping the sleeve of his tuxedo across his cheeks to gather the tears that had spilled there earlier. “I’ve never been better.”

“Yeah?” Keith prompted, staring at him curiously.

“Yeah.” Lance confirmed, seemingly being genuine about it. He reached up, brushing Keith’s bangs out of his eyes, blue eyes raking over Keith’s features appreciatively. He smiled suddenly, a grin so bright and beaming that it put the one he’d been wearing all day to shame. Quiet chuckles tumbled past his lips and he shook his head, leaning forward to scatter featherlight kisses across Keith’s cheeks, his nose, his forehead, his eyelids. 

Keith scoffed, blushing as he swatted Lance away. His eyes slowly fluttered open again, registering the smitten look Lance was wearing and feeling himself fall all over again. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Keith answered easily, recalling all the times he’d struggled to say the words in the beginning of their relationship. Lance had been so patient with him as he’d figured it all out, had never once pressured him to feel something that wasn’t there. He was such a caring, attentive lover. Keith never would have guessed they’d end up here in the beginning, but looking back on it all he wouldn’t change a single thing.

“You wanna blow this popsicle stand? Ditch the banquet and do something together instead?” Lance suggested, wiggling his eyebrows. Keith picked up on what Lance was laying down pretty quickly, rolling his eyes at his insatiable boyfriend and shoving him back a step.

“Did you have something in mind?” He asked, strolling easily past Lance and turning his back on the other man. Instead he looked out over the cityscape, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath of the high altitude air. He was so focused on it all, so relaxed, that he jumped when he felt Lance grab one of his hands. His eyes stayed lightly closed though, unfazed as he waited for Lance’s sheepish explanation of where his thoughts were at. 

That changed all too quickly when he felt Lance sliding something onto his finger, moving slowly and carefully. His eyes flew open then, frantic as they looked to the gold band now wrapped around his ring finger. _ What the fuck. _

“You wanna go get hitched?” Lance asked, trying his absolute hardest to force that flirty smoothness that he prided himself in, but failing terribly as his anxiety shone through the words. Keith didn’t know what to say, wasn’t even sure that he could form words right now. He stared dazedly down at the ring on his finger, feeling the sting of tears behind his eyes.

Lance began to chuckle nervously when he didn’t get an immediate response, reaching up to scratch at the back of his neck and do what he did best: backpedal. “We can do the whole big wedding ceremony later, my parents would kill me if we just eloped and didn’t involve them. I just wanna do this now, just for us. I’ve spent the past decade or more believing that I’d never get the chance to marry or have a family, that I’d never have a place to call home again. I know you know all about that, so I figured you might like the sound of it too.”

At some point during Lance’s incessant rambling, the smoke began to settle in Keith’s mind and the reality of the situation clicked. Lance was  _ proposing _ . Terribly, he might add, but what else would he have expected from the guy that had confessed to him by suggesting they “mix red and blue together and make some purple”. 

God, sometimes he had to wonder how they’d made it this far. At the same time though, he couldn’t help but feel excited at the prospect of many more years filled with the exact same nonsense that Lance was so known for. Marriage had never seemed like something that fit his vibe, but then again, neither had Lance. He’d been proven wrong once before by this lovable idiot, and he was more than open to having it happen again.

“A promise that we’ll be each other’s futures.” Keith spoke, reaching up to press Lance’s lips into a smile rather than the worried frown that had started to form. Not that there was any need to, the moment Lance heard his voice he seemed to relax, hopefulness filling his eyes. “That we’ll  _ have _ a future.”

“Yeah.” Lance breathed, eyes crinkling at the corners he was smiling so hard. “What say you?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure I’m about to say ‘I do’.”

**Author's Note:**

> That was meant to be a really quick, tiny drabble. I don't know what happened. A grand amount of it was written in the wee hours of the morning, so all things considered it's nowhere near as messy as it probably should be. I hope you all enjoyed, if you wanna hate on Iverson in the comments please feel free. Normally I'm very against hate or shaming in any capacity, but Iverson deserves the worst things in life for hitting Lance where it hurts with the insecurities. 
> 
> Thx for reading, here are my social medias, give me attention and I'll thrive.
> 
> twitter - https://twitter.com/MelancholyMango  
> this is where i am at my messiest, but basically you can expect to see very serious rants about zootopia and a lot of photos of my pets (wiener dogs, a baby kitten, a HEDGEHOG NAMED SHIRO??? r u in or what)
> 
> tumblr - melancholymango.tumblr.com  
> this is where i reblog ten thousand photos of klance and answer the questions u guys ask me about my writing, also a good place to make requests about things you wanna see from me in the future.
> 
> wattpad - https://www.wattpad.com/user/MelancholyMango  
> this is where i post my real-person fanfiction! i've written troyler way back when, but right now I'm mostly just posting phan. (i may also eventually post original fiction here, but right now my ass belongs to youtubers)


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